


Brick by Brick

by cats_n_chocolate



Category: Six of Crows Series - Leigh Bardugo
Genre: BAMF Inej Ghafa, BMAF Kaz Brekker, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Kanej - Freeform, Kaz is only human, Kaz' past, Post-Book 2: Crooked Kingdom, Some Humor, Three Years Later
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-12
Updated: 2020-06-20
Packaged: 2021-03-04 05:41:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,421
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24678622
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cats_n_chocolate/pseuds/cats_n_chocolate
Summary: After a disaster leads to an injured Kaz and crew being chased out of Ketterdam, they need to find somewhere safe to recover while working out a plan to take back their city.  This new enemy has it out for Kaz and will hurt him the best way possible: through Inej, Jesper and Wylan.Set three years after Crooked Kingdom.
Relationships: Kaz Brekker/Inej Ghafa
Comments: 1
Kudos: 50





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hey all, thanks so much for having a read. Not stacks happening in this chapter, mostly setting the scene for the rest of the story. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated and I hope to have another chapter ready to update soon.
> 
> Happy reading :)

**Inej**

We were going to die if we kept going like this.

She don’t know how Kaz was still walking and Jesper was far too pale for her liking as Wylan half carried him down the road, but, considering that less than 12 hours ago Jesper had been shot, Kaz’s leg was bent at an unnatural angle and they had all been in an explosion, they were making good progress.

Whatever happened back there had gone horribly, horribly wrong. They were supposed to meet with the newest member of the Merchant’s Council who had requested a meeting; wanting to convince Kaz he would be a good business partner for the Crow Club. The mercher, Damion, who has recently moved to Ketterdam had been snooping around the Dregs, keeping a close eye on the Crow Club and Kaz’s businesses. At first, they thought he may be looking for an alliance, he was new to the city after all and Kaz was well established, but they were wrong. His interest in Kaz turned out to be competitive; and what better way to get rid of the competition as King of the Barrel than to kill your opponent. And his friends.

They had left the city in the early hours of the morning, blending in with the workers all leaving to the suburban farms, but when they had all headed west to the plantations, their small group had followed Kaz south. The road, or more like dirt paths, were surrounded by green farmland and trees on either side. The canals didn’t come this far out of town to the south, so they were stuck walking for now. Nobody had spoken in the hour they had already walked and no one but Kaz had any idea where they were going, but she knew something had to change. Jes stumbled again but Wylan kept him upright, mumbling something she couldn’t hear but that had Jesper smirking weakly. Kaz’ limp, which had been bad when they started the trip was now worse than she had ever seen, his cane thumping along with every step, each slightly slower than the last. We had seen a healer quickly before getting out of Ketterdam, but she hadn’t been able to do much in the short time we had before we needed to leave. 

Damion would know by now that they had survived the explosion and would be sending his grunts all through the city after us. That was why they left, there was a mole in the Dregs and they had been set up. Now everyone in Ketterdam was after them again, and anyone looking to make a few quick coins would happily kill them for the reward. It reminded her of last time they had been wanted fugitive, however, before they could get the revenge that Kaz was probably already planning, they needed somewhere to lie low and recover from last nights disaster. The graveyard was out this time, though they had all been given strict instructions to never reveal the tomb they had used as a headquarters when getting back from Fjerda. Some mercher had decided they wanted to re-establish the graveyard and there had been workers there for months, knocking down old tombs and building newer, fancier ones. It seems not even the resting place of their ancestors is sacred to a mercher looking to make money.

At least it was spring and, as they continued down the same, monotonous, boring road in the cool morning sunlight, they weren’t sweating to death. She could see a town up ahead in the distance and decided she was sick of this, something had to change.

**Kaz**

Somehow, there was a mole in the Dregs that he didn’t know about. Somehow, what should have been a simple meeting had ended up with the four of them almost being blown sky high. Somehow, he had made a mistake and it had almost cost Inej her life. And for that last one, he couldn’t forgive himself.

His leg was on fire, worse than it had been back when he first broke it all those years ago, but they couldn’t stop. There was still another 3 hours to walk to their destination and his leg would probably give out before then, but they didn’t have a lot of options for transport. There were no automobiles this far out of Ketterdam and they couldn’t risk going into town to get horses, so they would walk. He would make them. But hearing Jesper as he struggled along, he considered that maybe they did need to risk a town and getting some horses. It was no use struggling to get to the safe house if they were dead before they reached their destination.

He was mad at himself, but more pressing, he was mad at Inej. He hadn’t spoken to her all night while they had been getting ready to flee the city and he still hadn’t forgiven her. She had the chance to get out of there last night when everything went wrong, but instead she put her life in danger to save the rest of them. She should never have been in that situation, her life should not have been put in danger, and it was all his fault.

Kaz looked at the town up ahead, it was medium size and they might have some horses to spare for the right price. Just as Kaz was considering this option he heard Inej speak for the first time since they began their grim trek.

‘Give me some kurge Kaz. We can’t keep this up.’

Kaz looked back at her, she had a determined look on her face as she scrutinised him. ‘And what are you going to do with my precious kurge?’ He asked. He was mad at her and, though it was probably a good idea for her to go into town and get us supplies, Kaz wasn’t going to give up easily.

‘Just give me the damn money Kaz, you’re going to get us killed if we keep going like this.’

They had all stopped walking finally and Kaz’ leg definitely appreciated the reprieve. Jesper and Wylan were wisely keeping quiet and watching the exchange. Probably worried about getting dragged into the middle of the brewing argument.

‘I didn’t think your Saints approved of that sort of language.’ He replied. It was probably a bad thing to say but they had all been up all night and Kaz wasn’t feeling very friendly. Next thing he knew, a knife was whizzing past his ear and slammed into the tree behind him. That was unexpected.

‘I know your feeling pissy’ she started. That comment didn’t sit well with Kaz, he wasn’t some teenage girl. ‘But I don’t know where we’re going and I don’t know how long you expect us to keep walking, but if our unknown destination is more than 5 minutes away our chances of making it are slim to none. We haven’t eaten in hours, were all exhausted and you and Jesper can barely stand. You’re going to give me the money I know you have in your pack now and you’re all going to go and wait in that patch of trees up ahead while I go into town.’

He heard Jesper mumbling something about keeping him out of the argument before Kaz turned and glared at Inej. She was beautiful in the morning light. Her hair was coming out of the braid she always wore, and her clothes were filthy and cut up after last night but he couldn’t help but think she managed to pull of the look and still be stunning.

Their relationship had been going well up until the disaster the night before. She had been coming home to Ketterdam, to him, every 2 to 3 months for visits, staying usually around a week at a time. Last time she pulled up to port, less than a week ago, she had given him news that he had wanted to hear every time she had visited. She was going to spend a few months in Ketterdam while her crew took _The Wraith_ out on its next mission. Apparently, she had been feeling homesick and wanted to spend some time with her friends in Ketterdam. She had selected her crew well and they were well trained in the art of capturing slavers; though Kaz had given Specht a warning about making sure the boat was kept in one piece while Inej was in Ketterdam and bought back in time before she started to worry about it. Kaz had been relieved that he would get to spend the next 2 months with her and had planned to make the most of their time together. However, like everything else, their plans had blown up last night. 

She was glaring at him like she was contemplating another one of her knives, and, although Kaz didn’t like parting with his kurge, he liked being used as a target even less. So slowly, while glaring back at her, he pulled the pack off his back and dug out one of the bags of kurge he was keeping in there and throwing it at her. She caught the bag easily before opening it up and inspecting the contents.

‘And another one.’ she demanded, holding out her hand. Kaz wasn’t happy about it but he dug into his pack and grabbed another bag.

‘Don’t spend it all, we’re out of the city now and don’t have access the banks. And don’t be noticed.’ He replied before turning away from her and continuing on to the patch of trees she had pointed to.

Kaz thought he heard Jesper whisper something to Wylan about Kaz being whipped but he decided to ignore that comment. He was only doing what was practical, it had nothing to do with his feelings for her. Mostly.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey all :) Bit more happening here and in the next chapter the Crows reach their destination and we start looking into Kaz' past.
> 
> Please leave reviews and feedback to let me know what you think. I'm hoping to include some flashbacks of what's happened in the past 3 years as well as the story progresses so any scene suggestions would be great.
> 
> If anyone is interested in being a Beta for the story as well, please send me a message
> 
> Thanks for reading :)

**Inej**

She was glad that the boys had stopped, she was worried about Kaz and was almost certain that stubbornness was the only reason he was still upright. Wylan would take care of Jesper but Kaz refused to even talk to her for some reason so there was no way he would appreciate her concern right now. Instead, she focused on her job, getting some horses and food for them so they could get wherever they were going in one piece. 

She started with the food, getting some rolls and apples from the market. They had water but no one was open in the early hours of the morning for them to get some food without being noticed. After that, she found a farmer who had bought some horses into town for the day, negotiating with him for an acceptable price. She was only going to get 2 horses; she knew Jesper probably shouldn’t ride by himself so he would have to share with Wylan, and Kaz had been insistent that she save their money so he would have to suck it up and share a horse with her. Besides, maybe then he would talk to her, and if not, it would piss him off so that would have to be good enough.

Kaz had gotten so much better with skin to skin contact. It had been a slow and, at times, painful process, but both of them had worked together. She was getting better at physical contact as well. They both had their good days and bad days, but together they had worked out their limits and found ways to support one another. It had started slow, he only took his gloves off around her, holding her hand when they were alone, slowly learning to hug one another and be held. It had been difficult and had left both of them panicked at different points, but now she could wrap her arms around his waist or his neck and he would wrap his strong arms around her and, instead of feeling like she was trapped she would breath in his smell of leather, coffee and Ketterdam and feel at home. 

They even worked their way up to sleeping in the same bed when she was in Ketterdam. She could now crawl into his bed at the Slat, and it smelt like him and, instead of seeing faceless men hold her down in the silk covers of the Menagerie, she could sink under the covers and feel safe, knowing no one could touch her again without her permission. They had even kissed a few times, always slow and ready to stop the moment either of them needed, but their first kiss a year ago had been the best moment of her life. Now, whenever they were alone together his hands would usually be bare, and the gentle, casual touches between them had become almost second nature.

But being together hadn’t been some magical fix. Some days, he would wake up and his gloves would be on before she had even opened her eyes; those were the bad days when his memories and Jordie’s ghost had a stronger hold over him. And some days she would wake up from a nightmare and just want to be held in his warm, loving arms, where she felt protected and safe, and never let go. 

An hour had passed by the time she led the horses back to the boys; Jesper was dosing, using Wylan’s shoulder as a pillow and Kaz was standing off to the side which made her frown a bit in concern, he should be sitting and resting his leg.

She passed 2 rolls of bread and 2 apples to Wylan who was shaking Jesper awake, getting a tired but grateful smile in return before walking over to stand beside Kaz.

‘I don’t know what I did to make you mad at me,’ she whispered quietly so only Kaz could hear. It was bothering her that she couldn’t figure out why he hadn’t spoken to her, he had never been very good at talking about his feelings but usually she could read him pretty well. He seemed fine with Wylan and Jesper, or as fine as you can be after being betrayed and almost blown up, but for some reason he was mad at her. But she wasn’t going to just stand there and let him cut her out, they had been through enough together and she deserved better than that.

‘I’m not mad at you,’ came a raspy reply. He was picking at his bread roll with gloved hands, not eating a single bit.

‘Don’t lie to me Kaz, that’s our rule.’ And it was, their relationship was different from other peoples, she knew that, but their one solid rule had always been simple. They were honest with each other. If they weren’t ready talk about something or to take the next physical step in their relationship that was okay, but they always told the truth.

Better terrible truths than kind lies.

**Kaz**

He wasn’t sure how to reply to that, he had never been good at talking about his feelings and right now he didn’t feel like opening that can of worms. Especially now that Wylan and Jesper were definitely eavesdropping.

‘We can talk about this later.’ He relied. 

Honestly, even that was a challenge; once he would have shut Inej down, insisting that nothing was wrong, but he had learnt from the past that pushing her away like that would only upset her and make thing worse next time they spoke. She didn’t deserve to be treated like that.

‘Thank you.’ She murmured quietly before turning her attention to the others. ‘Are you ready to keep moving?’

‘Honestly Kaz, where are we going?’ Jesper replied. The food and rest had helped his complexion and, although still looking sickly, he looked better than before. Turns out Inej was right about needing to rest and stop walking.

‘You’ll see when we get there.’ He replied. 

He wasn’t sure why he was still keeping their destination a secret, there was no one around to overhear him and the others were going to find out eventually. Perhaps it was because he wasn’t sure why he was taking them there. There were plenty of safe houses closer to the city where they could lie low, but he was feeling off after last night and had decided they would go to the one place he trusted most. The one place no one else knew about.

‘But Kaz!’ Jesper whined. Jesper didn’t particularly like surprises, nor did he like walking. He had to be feeling better though if he was up to complaining, ‘I’m tired.’

Kaz just scowled in his direction, ‘if you’d rather have a nap here while we continue on, I won’t complain.’ 

They were all tired, had all been up all night and where all ready to drop from exhaustion, but until they were safe, Kaz would keep them moving. He got them into this situation after all, he would get them out of it.

‘We should get moving,’ suggested Wylan, always the peacekeeper working tirelessly to keep them from killing each other. He nudged Jesper and helped his boyfriend stand and both walked over to their horse before Wylan tied his bag to the saddle.

The Van Eck shipping empire had only grown the last few years, Jesper and Wylan working together until the Van Eck business was one of the most respected and profitable businesses in Kerch. Kaz knew Jesper read their documents to Wylan everyday and together they would make the decisions of what business deals to make and where to invest their money. Kaz wasn’t sure what would happen to the business until they returned to Ketterdam, that was just another problem for Kaz to add to the already long list of problems to solve.

Both the boys had matured greatly these last few years, after Jesper paid off all his debts with the money from the Ice Court, he hadn’t gambled a single kurge. Though Kaz would never say it, he was almost proud of Jesper for overcoming his gambling problem and moving on with his life. 

‘Everyone saddle up.’ Came Inej’s reply as she picked up Kaz’ pack from where he had dropped it at his feet and started tying it onto their horse next to hers.

Kaz looked over at Inej. If Jesper could overcome his problems and move on with his life than Kaz could too. He would never be open about his feelings and would never stop being Dirtyhands, but for Inej, when it was just them, he was trying to open up. It wasn’t easy and it had taken almost a year after the auction for him to be brave enough to talk about his past with Inej, about Jordie and the Reaper’s Barge, but now she knew all his secrets, all the truths about the Bastard of the Barrel, and she hadn’t even flinched. He would never be a good man, but he _was_ hers.

They had never told Jesper and Wylan about what was between them, though it was probably unnecessary and obvious to the two boys; but they had to be careful, both Kaz and Inej had enough enemies and they didn’t want to be used against one another. As far as everyone in Ketterdam was concerned, Dirtyhands and the Wraith had a working alliance but nothing more. And until last night it has worked.

‘Why only two horses?’ he asked Inej as he limped over to her, his leg protesting every step. 

He hadn’t been specific about how to spend his kurge, and while Jesper and Wylan would have no trouble sharing a horse, he wasn’t sure he liked the idea of being that close to Inej while he was still mad at her. Though, as she had pointed out, she didn’t really know why he was annoyed. If he thought about it logically, he knew she had done the right thing. If it wasn’t for her, they wouldn’t have made it out of there alive, but his heart and his head were conflicting and that was something he wasn’t used to and he didn’t like.

‘You told me not to spend all your kurge so I didn’t.’ was her reply; he should have seen that comment coming. ‘Besides, a small girl with 3 horses is far more noticeable than a small girl with 2 horses.’

After that, she gracefully swung herself into the saddle with an elegance Kaz could only envy. It wasn’t easy heaving himself onto the horse, he had to put his good leg into the stirrup and push up from his bad leg. It was painful but he was able to pull himself upwards using upper body strength and settling in behind her, though he did note the look of concern that flashed across Inej’s face as he did so. He definitely wasn’t being fair to her; if she was the one that had been hurt he would have been worried about her.

Once the horses started moving down the road, Kaz gave them instructions to avoid the town, they didn’t want anyone taking note of them. He didn’t know how far out of Ketterdam Damion would send his grunts searching for them and didn’t want someone here making some quick coin by reporting them in. 

Their pace improved with the horses, they had been walking slowly before and were only getter slower as the morning progressed, but now at least they were making good time. Another hour and a half, maybe two hours and they would hopefully reach their destination.

Though they didn’t use horses in Ketterdam Kaz was a good rider, he’d grown up around horse after all, and he knew that Jesper was a decent rider from the time he spent in Novyi Zem on his father’s farm; though Wylan looked slightly uncomfortable and panicked a bit every time he shifted in the saddle causing Jesper to laugh at him. Kaz looked at Inej sitting in front of him, like always she looked completely comfortable and at ease, confident in herself. 

That gave him plenty of time to figure out how he was going to breach the distance he had made between them. The more he thought about it, the more he realised that he may have been slightly irrational in his anger towards Inej. He never would have left her behind to die to save himself and she was a much better person than him, she probably wouldn’t even leave a puppy behind to save herself. 

He would need to talk to her, tell her what was going on inside his head. He was still annoyed at himself for making a mistake, he wasn’t going to throw away years of hard work over this. He just needed to work out how to broach the topic.

Lucky for him, she broke the silence after about half an hour.

‘I used to love riding horses’ she murmured so quietly; he almost didn’t hear her. ‘When I was young, back is Ravka we had two horses who pulled our caravan for us, Buttercup and Daisy. When I had done all my chores and Papa was able, he would take me riding.’

Kaz could picture it, a young, carefree Inej riding a horse with her father’s arms wrapped around her, holding her securely to make sure she didn’t fall off. He would even bet that she had tried to ride while standing up, she would have had the balance for it, but it probably would have given her parent a heart attack.

Kaz had thought she was finished speaking before she continued. ‘I know things didn’t turn out as you were expecting last night, and I don’t know what happened or why you’re in such a mood, but pushing me away isn’t going to change what happened, it’s only going to make us both miserable. You’re going to need all of us for what comes next, and you may have to trust us, which I know is difficult…’

‘I trust you.’ Kaz interrupted, the words coming out of his mouth before he could even think about them. It was the first time he had every said he trusted somebody aloud, but it was true. But he did trust her, and he didn’t want her to ever doubt it. 

He couldn’t see her smile, but he knew it was on her face. ‘I trust you too,’ she replied quietly. They were still for a few more moment before Kaz broke the silence again.

‘You should have left when you had the chance,’ he said to her quietly, ‘instead, you put your life at risk. You could have died’ … and it would have been his fault.

‘Kaz, I knew the risks when I went in there.’ She replied. 

Of course she knew there were risks with every job, they both did, but he would always try to protect her. Nobody knew it but Dirtyhands was actually very protective of his friends, particularly her, always hesitating to take her on jobs that might turn ugly and end in a fight. It seemed he had no problem getting hurt himself, but the moment she so much as got a bump he would worry.

‘There shouldn’t have been a risk at that meeting,’ was his reply, ‘it should have been a simple exchange and nothing more.’

‘Kaz, you can’t keep me safe all the time. I’m a pirate and your spider, putting my life at risk is part of both those jobs. You just have to trust me to take care of myself.’

‘I do,’ he replied, ‘but I should have known what Damion was up to, I shouldn’t have gone into that meeting without all the information.’

‘Believe it or not Kaz, but you can’t know everything about everyone.’ Was her reply, ‘there was no way for you to know how that was going to turn out, now you just have to move on and figure out what to do next.’

He wasn’t happy about the surprise last night, he was so used to being the one with all the information and the one to decide how meetings like this would end. It had been a long time since someone had gone up against him so directly and he hadn’t been prepared for it. He would never admit it, but the whole thing had caught him off guard. 

‘He’s not going to get away with it.’

‘I know,’ she said, ‘we’ll take him down, but we’re going to do it together.’ _Brick by brick._


End file.
